Nobody lives once he decides to kill them
by You'reABirdOfTheSummer
Summary: Best friends do everything together, that's how it goes. But it takes on a new meaning for Lily Potter and Alice Longbottom when they learn of their own upcoming murder and that of their sons.


Shaking hands clutched each other  
>Fiery red clashed with mousy brown<br>Tears fell down identical, pale, clammy cheeks  
>Sobs convulsed equally pregnant bodies<br>Fear shone from their watery eyes.

Not a little, inconsequential fear  
>Not a fear of the dark, or spiders, or having to see your great-aunt for dinner the next day<br>A proper fear  
>Huge, painful, biting at every nerve ending in your body, ripping and clawing at every emotion- that kind of fear<br>A fear for your life  
>A fear your son's life<br>A son who had not yet even taken his first breath  
>A fear for everyone you have ever loved and everyone who has ever loved you<p>

Eventually tearstained cheeks finally dried  
>Trembling forms stilled<br>A sort of calm came over them  
>There was still the fear, burning with as much ferocity<br>Burning like it could only get hotter, more intense, more painful.  
>More terrifying.<p>

But they were Gryffindors  
>And they were intelligent and logical and reasonable<br>So, in a shared looked, piercing green eyes locking with warm honey ones  
>They silently vowed that they would not let this fear get the best of them<br>They wouldn't give in to terror  
>They would stay strong<br>They would go about their days laughing and singing and never letting anyone know  
>Just how terrified they actually were.<p>

But they wouldn't fake their contentment because they were lions  
>They would because they were mothers to be<br>And they knew, accepted almost  
>That their time together with each other, and their sons would be sort<br>Painfully short  
>Even after a thousand years with their children they would still call it short when the time came to part<br>But they knew, they knew deep down in their stomachs  
>That they would be lucky to spend just one year with them.<br>That time, they probably would never remember  
>Just babies<br>They would never remember helping their fathers decorate the Christmas tree  
>Or their mothers baking them biscuits and teaching them to finger paint<br>But they would know  
>They would never be in doubt that they were loved<br>And they would walk to the ends of the earth to ensure that their sons, when they grew old knew that they were loved  
>They had accepted that that would require sacrifice<br>Most likely the ultimate

"I love you, Lily," the brunette choked, voice breaking and tears threatening to spill once more.  
>"I love you, Alice," the redhead whispered, not wavering, only certainty.<br>Best friends do everything together.  
>They had shared a room from their first day at Hogwarts<br>They had gone on double dates with their husbands  
>They had bought school robes, wedding dresses, baby clothes together<p>

A shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, a friend to count on  
>Lily Potter and Alice Longbottom had been best friends for nine years,<br>Since they were little Lily Evans and Alice Prewett, two tiny first years until  
>When Albus Dumbledore broke the news<br>Offered his deepest regrets and condolences  
>And gave them some privacy<p>

Lily Potter and Alice Longbottom had been five months pregnant  
>When they realized<br>That they, just two girls, newly-weds, hardly out of Hogwarts,  
>Forced to grow up too fast, by a war which ravaged their world<br>Would give their lives for their firstborn and only born sons.

They did not try to find a way out of it  
>They did not kick and scream<br>But they cried, not for losing their own lives  
>But for losing the childhood of their children<br>Of the very real possibility of never getting to watch them grow up

And when the crying stopped, when the tears had all been spilled  
>They sat together, in a darkening room of Hogwarts school,<br>Cuddled together in a warming, comforting embrace  
>And they hoped, wished and prayed<br>To any deity who had the sympathy to be listening to them

That their sacrifice would not be in vain  
>Because nobody lived once <em>he<em> decided to kill them

They were right of course,  
>They knew from that day that were marked women.<br>A year from that day,  
>The redhead was referred to as<br>The late Lily Potter, the brightest which of the century  
>But only by those who did not know her<br>And by those who did  
>Dear, sweet Lily, who did not deserve to die, but who did so with honour and bravery and undying love for her son.<p>

The brunette:  
>One of the finest aurors ever to grace the ministry's halls<br>Such a shame, such a great shame  
>Poor, brave Alice, who did not deserve her fate<p>

Lily Potter gave her life for her son and had a tombstone to show for it.  
>Alice Longbottom gave her life for her son and a hospital gown to show for it.<p>

Harry Potter lost his parents at the age of one, when they were aged just twenty three.  
>Neville Longbottom lost his parents at the age of fifty-six, but Alice and Frank had been lost so long before then.<p>

Lily Potter and Alice Longbottom both gave their lives for their sons  
>Willingly, lovingly and with no regrets<br>Lily may have died within a year  
>Alice may have lived as an empty shell, her mind unusable and insane for half a century.<br>But both,  
>If asked to<br>Would do it a thousand time over

Nobody lived once _he_ decided to kill them  
>Until two best friends, both intelligent, bright, honest, true, loving and incredibly brave,<br>Paid the price of their lives to break the trend.

**Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom lived once **_**he**_** decided to kill them**


End file.
